Welcome to Northumberland County

Northumberland County, Virginia, was originally known as Chickacoan, an Indian district on the Northern Neck, lying between the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers, tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay.

In 1648, this “Mother County of the Northern Neck” was organized and named after County Northumberland, England. The first white settler to make a permanent home in the county was Col. John Mottrom, sometime between 1635-1640.

In 1648 Northumberland County, Virginia, was officially formed by an act passed by the Burgesses in Jamestown, Virginia. It was later divided into three additional counties: Lancaster, Richmond and Westmoreland. Northumberland County has an area of approximately 222 square miles and a population of 12,400 people.

For hundreds of years, Northumberland remained a county largely isolated from the rest of the state due to the lack of a road network. But in 1926, with the bridge crossing from Essex County to the Northern Neck, with access to the west, growth began in the area.